Sand and Blades: A Naruto Fanfic
by lonleycomet
Summary: A demon seeks to kill Katana and Sai of the Blade clan, and the Sand Sib's must help to save them. However what happens when the Akatsuki are the ones that have to house them. GaaraXOC,bit of language, character OOC-ness at times. First Fanfic ever!
1. Introducing the Blades

A new evil has emerged in a supposedly peaceful time.

Its' name: Kariki.

Its' goal: Complete annihilation of the Blade clan.

Redemption of his long ago defeat by the clans' ancestors was clear in his mind. He had a thirst for blood and it needed to be quenched.

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Garaa, Temari and Kankuro made their way through the streets of Konoha. Tsunade had summoned them about a mission.  
They entered the room and bowed respectfully. She nodded to them and began to speak.  
"The mission that has been assigned to you is one of protection." She rasped.  
Someone hit the sake hard last night Temari smirked to herself.  
"A demon has sworn to spill every last drop of blood belonging to the Blade clan. Your mission is to protect the last two surviving members. You have been assigned to this mission because the demon is unaware of your abilities, giving you the element of surprise of sorts." she struggled to say before having to rest her aching throat again.  
"Who are we protecting?" Garaa's emotionless voice broke the silence. She motioned for one of the guards to bring the Blade clan members into the room. He returned with Sai.  
"Where is the other one?" Tsunade asked, her raspy voice betrayed none of the annoyance she felt. The blank looks on the guard and Sai's face were enough of an explanation. Suddenly a commotion was heard from behind the door. The door burst open to reveal 5 guards dragging a girl. She struggled, and two of the guards lost their grip. She kicked one in the ribs and the other in the face; they both fell down unconscious. But no matter how much she struggled the remaining 3 held firm.  
"Why won't you do what you're told?" Tsunade sighed rolling her eyes.  
"Because it's pointless." The girl spat.  
"Why is it pointless?" Tsunade raised her eyebrows  
"Because I can take care of myself! I don't need anyone to protect me!" she shrieked still struggling against the guards.  
"Well if you can take care of yourself so well then how come you were taken in by a mere 5 guards?" Tsunade asked smugly  
"Why? Because you placed a seal on my powers and got them to ambush me you BITCH!!" the girl lunged at Tsunade, the guards tried to grab her but failed. She turned to them, palming one upside the head, punching one in the stomach and spinning to kick the last. They also fell to the floor unconscious. She turned to Tsunade.  
"Now TAKE THE SEAL OFF ME DAMMIT!!" she screeched. Tsunade turned to the Sand Sibling and pointed to Sai and the girl.  
"These are the two you are going to protect." She smirked.

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After numerous arguments about the seal being removed it was decided the seal on the girl would be changed to a different one. After the seal had been changed the girl revealed her name was Katana and then she fell silent, so any questions of what the seal did were left unanswered.

Tsunade turned to the Sand Siblings.  
"Sai and Katana are the last surviving members of their clan; you must ensure their fortification. Their clan's future relies on them. Now remember that you're enemy is fast, intelligent and probably knows more than we know. We will give you more information soon but until then I suggest you find an asylum of sorts. And make sure they don't die."  
"Hai." They chorused  
"Good luck." She said as they left the room.

The group made their way down the street.  
"So do either of you know why this demon is trying to kill you? Temari asked the Blade siblings.  
'Apparently it wants revenge. Our ancestors defeated it long ago and sealed its soul into a painting." Sai said  
'A painting?" Kankuro laughed. Temari smacked him over the head.  
"Yeah a painting, but somehow he managed to break the seal and now it's on the warpath." Sai said quietly.  
For the remaining member of a bloodthirsty clan, he seemed very withdrawn Temari thought to herself.  
"So where are we going to go?" Sai asked them  
"There's a place in the forest, an old wood hut, not many people go there so it should be safe." Temari said

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Eventually they reached the wood hut.  
"You sure it's safe out here?" Sai asked  
'Of course it is!" Kankuro smiled  
"Idiot." Gaara said smacking him over the head  
"Why am I an idiot?" Kankuro looked hurt  
"If they were safe anywhere they wouldn't need us to protect them would they? As long as that demon is after them they are in danger and so are we." Gaara said narrowing his eyes towards his brother. Kankuro backed away fearfully.  
'"Wow you can feel the love in this family." Katana muttered sarcastically. She hadn't spoken since the seal had been changed.  
"We do trust each other." Temari said defensively  
"No, you and Kankuro trust each other. But you're both afraid of Gaara." Katana pointed to Gaara, a slight smile on her lips. Gaara glared at her, no one challenged him.  
'Remember Gaara, we're supposed to protect them." Temari squeaked seeing the murderous glint in Gaara's eye.  
"I wasn't challenging you Gaara of the Sand, I was merely making an observation." Katana said nonchalantly as she walked into the house. The others followed.

The next morning the group arose early, just after daybreak.  
"We'd better get some supplies." Temari remarked looking through the cupboards. It didn't look like anyone had lived there in years.  
"It'll be easier if we split up." she said taking charge "You guys go and get some fire wood and Katana and I will go and get some food."  
'Yeah well make it quick, I'm starved!" Kankuro whined

Gaara, Kankuro and Sai set out to find some firewood, they moved uphill and began collecting a few dry logs.  
"Man the forest is dry as hell." Kankuro said  
"Yeah, one spark this place could go up in flames." Sai commented wiping the sweat off his forehead.  
'Hey speaking of fire, do you smell smoke?" Kankuro asked, sniffing the air.

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Temari breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the girl she was protecting. She seemed right at home in the forest with her tangled black hair and tanned skin jumping from tree to tree. Suddenly the girl stopped, her bright green eyes became thoughtful and worried.  
"What's wrong?" Temari asked,  
"We need to get to the river. Now," she pulled on Temari's hand.  
"What? Why? I don't understand." Temari said  
"Fire."

Gaara, Kankuro and Sai ran in the direction of the house. They'd seen smoke from the hill. The girls had been downhill from the fire.  
"Kankuro, get some water from the river. We'll look for the girls." Sai said.  
Gaara glared at him and considered killing Sai for ordering him around. But then he realised he was just worried. Kankuro made sure that Gaara wasn't going to kill Sai before running towards the river.

Kankuro ran down to the river and saw Temari and Katana there.  
"Tem!" he shouted, "Tem are you alright?"  
"Yeah fine! Where are Gaara and Sai?" she asked  
'Oh shit!" Kankuro said as he dashed to get Gaara and Sai

Gaara turned as Kankuro burst into the clearing.  
"Idiot, you forgot the water." he rolled his eyes  
"Found the girls." Kankuro said breathlessly "They're safe. Where's Sai?"  
Gaara sighed and grabbed Sai by his collar and dragged him towards the river.

"You okay?" Sai asked the two girls. They nodded.  
"How?" Kankuro scratched his head.  
"It's thanks to Katana." Temari beamed at the girl who was now transfixed by a bird. "She said that there was a fire and we had to come here." Temari said  
Gaara, Kankuro and Sai stared at her.  
"Anyway, we'd better head back. It looks like the fire has died down maybe we could put it out.." Temari began  
"No." Gaara interrupted "The fire was deliberately lit, that means the enemy knows we are here. We leave, now."

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The group entered Konoha for the second time in two days. They had decided to see Tsunade and ask if she had any more information on the demon.  
"I'm going to make this quick." Tsunade snapped  
'Someone's cheerful' Temari thought to herself. Tsunade was never very happy.  
"The demon, Kariki, already knows more about the ways of Konoha. He knows all the main hiding places that we would use and all the alliances we could use. SO we had to do something... drastic," she said  
"Like what?" Sai asked  
"Understand that we did this for your own safety………We're hiding you with the Akatsuki." a thump was heard as Sai feinted  
"HAHA! Man, sucks to be a Blade today." Kankuro laughed.  
"Although the Akatsuki have sworn allegiance, we believe that we should take measures, so Temari, Gaara and Kankuro will be going to." Kankuro stopped laughing. It took then a few moments to realised he has feinted too.

"Idiot." Gaara muttered.

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	2. Enter The Akatsuki

The group waited outside Tsunade's office. Sai had regained consciousness. Kankuro had too but after Temari hit him in the nose he was out cold again.  
"Why did you hit him again?" Katana asked,  
"Because Kankuro is a stress reliever. He feels stressed, I feel relieved." Temari smirked. Katana nodded, not quite understanding. She went to check if Sai was awake.  
"Are you okay?" she asked softly. He muttered he was fine and turned away. She shrugged it off. Sai wasn't exactly Mr Emotional. Suddenly a man with an Akatsuki cloak walked into the room. He looked at them and then at Tsunade.  
"These are the ones?" he asked. Tsunade nodded. He acknowledged this and walked over to the group of "What are your names?" he asked  
"What's yours?" asked Gaara leaning against the wall  
the man smirked. "I'm Pein. And you are?"  
"I am Gaara of the Desert; these are my siblings Temari and Kankuro."  
"You're the Blades protectors?" Pein asked. Gaara nodded. Pein turned to the Blades  
"Now, your names?" he raised an eyebrow  
"I am Sai and this is my sister Katana." Sai said  
"Good, okay to get to the Akatsuki hideout we'll have to shadow flicker and I'm guessing that none of you know how, so I'll just have to bring all of you at once. Okay grab hold of the cloak." He held out his arm. They all held on to the cloak and gasped as the world rushed into darkness.

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Sai felt his feet hit solid ground and was relieved. His stomach lurched but he managed to refrain himself from vomiting. Kankuro hadn't been so lucky.  
Sai looked around at his surroundings. The Akatsuki hideout was a mansion. A huge mansion. It looked like it was in a forest, probably hidden by an illusion jutsu. Kankuro had finished vomiting and stood up straight.  
"That it?" he asked groggily pointing at the mansion. Pein nodded and started walking off towards it the group of Chunins following.

The door opened to reveal a huge interior.  
'At least the Akatsuki live in style.' Temari thought to herself as she looked around the lavishly decorated room.  
"Umm.." Temari tapped Pein on the shoulder unable what to call him.  
"You can call me Pein." he said. She nodded  
'Okay Pein, umm where are the other members of the Akatsuki?" she asked  
"They'll be back soon." he smirked seeing the worried look on her face 'Don't worry, they've been told not to harm you."  
Temari nodded feeling reassured and decided even though they were S-class criminals at least the leader was nice.

Pein lead them into the lounge room. He motioned for them to sit on the couch.  
"If you don't mind me asking why are you doing this? Helping us out?" Sai asked boldly. Pein looked at him in shock. He's been told that as soon as the boy had been told he was coming to the hideout he'd feinted.  
"We helped because we're not at cruel as people think we are and we saw this as our chance of redemption."  
The group stared at him  
"Really?" Kankuro asked  
"Yeah, only some of the Akatsuki are here for mindless violence, most of us just hold a grudge against someone." Pein shrugged. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of splintering wood.  
"KISAME! YOU FUCKING IDIOT PEIN MIGHT HAVE HEARD THAT!" a voice yelled drunkenly. Pein rolled his eyes. Only Hidan used the word fuck so much. Pein got up and walked into the hallway already knowing what the two had done. Gone out on the piss. He heard Kisame hiccup. Yep, he thought, they're drunk.  
"I told you guys to stay sober." he growled angrily  
"I am completely sober Pein." Kisame slurred pointing at Gaara.  
"Kisame. I'm over here." Pein said. Kisame looked over at him.  
"Wow you're so fast it looks like you're over there too!" he grinned lopsidedly and fell on the ground. Pein rolled his eyes.  
'Kisame get up, and Hidan what are you doing?" Pein asked as he saw Hidan start chanting a raise a knife.  
"Crap." Pein spun around to make sure all the Chunins were still where he left them. They were. Then what was Hidan about to sacrifice. To make matters weirder he saw Hidan grab a bottle of tomato sauce.  
"Umm Hidan." Pein asked. Hidan looked at him.  
"What?"  
"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked. Hidan held up one of Sasori's smaller puppets and the tomato sauce. "Sacrificing'." he slurred before collapsing into a heap on the ground.  
"Jesus!" Pein dragged Hidan into the lounge room and dropped him on the couch.

"It's ok, you can just call me Hidan." The Jashin believer answered to Pein's curse. Pein rolled his eyes and called to Kisame.  
"Kisame get up off the floor. Now, none of you touch these Chunins." he warned pointing to the Chunins on the couch "If you harm one of them, you deal with me." he glared at both of them. Even in their drunken state they knew a threat when they heard it. With that Pein stormed off to find the rest of the Akatsuki.

The Chunins watched Pein leave with a slight sense of dread, even if he was the leader of an S-class criminal group at least he was sober and hadn't sacrificed a puppet. Kisame groaned and staggered off to vomit in the sink. Hidan glared at the doorway and then turned to the Chunins.  
"So why the fuck are you doing here?" he slurred groggily  
'Why do you care?" Gaara asked coldly, he was sick of the drunken idiot already.  
"I care because this is MY HOUSE he yelled raising his arms and staggering slightly.  
"I thought it was the Akatsuki's house?" Sai raised an eyebrow  
"Say that again." Hidan threatened. Sai got up and glared at him. Kisame staggered into the room looking a bit green around the gills (no pun intended).  
"Just leave it Hidan." he managed to say before rushing off to throw up again.  
"Fine." Hidan muttered sitting back down. He looked at Katana who was staring out the window looking spaced.  
"What's up with her? Is she retarded?" he smirked. Sai suddenly felt himself get very angry. He had used to be like that, insulting. He remembered when he's said something like that to Sakura and she'd started crying. He glared at him  
"Take that back!" he yelled at Hidan  
"How about you fucking make me?" Hidan smirked. He knew the boy wouldn't do anything; he was too small and weak. That's probably why Hidan looked so shocked when 'small and weak' Sai tackled him to the ground and began beating him senseless. After Hidan had recovered from shock he threw Sai over his head into the wall. The Sand Siblings jumped in-between Hidan and Sai before the Jashin believer could do anymore damage. Hidan leant with one hand on the table. Kankuro and Temari stared at his hand?  
"What the fuck are you looking at?" he followed their gaze to his hand which now had a kunai stabbed dangerously close to it. He glance at Gaara who was now leaning against the wall  
"Oi, sand freak, is this some idea of a sick fucking joke?" he asked. Gaara shrugged.  
"Then who the fuck could have... Oh yeah, the retard." he turned to face Katana but instead of seeing her looking out the window she was looking at the floor. She slowly raised her head to meet his gaze, her eyes glowing blood red.  
"No-one hurts my brother." she said in a demonic voice that was not her own. She grinned manically as she slammed her hand down fast onto his fist. He screamed as he felt all the bones in his hand shatter. Katana grabbed his arm and twisted until the bone snapped sticking out of his arm. He fell to the ground unconscious. Then she walked over to Sai and prodded him with her foot, she turned and looked at the Sand Siblings. She blinked a few times, her eyes turning from red to her bright green.  
"What happened?" she asked as she fell to the ground unconscious.


	3. The Blonde Bitch of Betrayl

Pein ran into the room, Tobi toddling behind him. He'd heard screaming. He looked at the damaged living room. Temari and Kankuro were sitting next to Sai and Katana. Katana was unconscious; Gaara was leaning against the wall and Hidan was lying on the floor, bleeding badly.  
"Shit! Tobi get Konan now, she's a medic." he ordered the orange masked male.  
Tobi quickly dashed off to get Konan.  
Konan entered the room seconds later and quickly began healing Hidan. Pein walked over to the Chunins.  
"What happened? Who did this?" Temari, Kankuro and Sai glanced at Katana.  
"HER?!" Pein asked. They nodded.

'Christ' Pein thought to himself. Of all of the Chunins he had expected her to be the sane one. Obviously he'd been wrong.  
"Has she done anything like this before?" Pein asked the Chunins. The Sand Siblings shook their heads. Pein looked Sai. He shook his head.  
"I only met her 4 days before the mission; I don't know whether she had done anything like this before. But I think Tsunade would have told me if it had." he said looking at the ground. Pein couldn't believe this! Her own brother had only known her for 6 days.

'Well this is just fucking great!' he thought to himself.  
"Why didn't any of you stop her!?" he asked suddenly.  
"She seemed to be doing fine by herself." Gaara shrugged.

Pein shook his head and looked at the unconscious girl. Thanks to her unknown history she was probably one of the most dangerous people here.  
"You'd better get her into a bed." Pein sighed "Hidan too."

'I guess the answers will have to wait until one of them wakes up.' he thought to himself as he scooped up the girl.

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Katana opened her eyes to see the whole of the Akatsuki looking down on her.  
"What?" she asked quietly suddenly feeling weak  
"I think we should be asking you that! What the fuck did you do to Hidan?" Kakuzu asked  
"Why do you care so much?" Gaara asked  
"Because the bastard owes me money." Kakuzu retorted as he turned back to the girl. Pein rolled his eyes and pulled Kakuzu away. He looked at the girl her blue eyes fearful.

' Wait a minute' he thought 'didn't she have green eyes.' He shrugged it off.  
"What is the last thing you remember?" he asked softly  
"You walked out saying you were going to get the rest of the Akatsuki." she said quietly. He turned to the Akatsuki.  
"Out, now." he ordered. The others didn't argue as they filed out the room. He turned to the Chunins  
"Now tell me everything that happened." Pein asked

20 minutes later Pein had heard the whole story. He sat back and thought for a moment. He turned to Katana  
"Has this happened before?" he asked. She nodded.  
"A few times, I can't remember what happens exactly, but I remember the turmoil afterwards and the rest is just blank spaces." Katana eyes were out of focus, she saw the scenes of horror she had cause play over in her mind. "I can't stop it." She hung her head. Temari put an arm around the girls' shoulder. Gaara felt a shadow of what most people would call sympathy.  
"Tell me what happened, when you lost control." Pein said gently.  
"Well, it's the bloodline limit. It won't affect Sai. It…it uses my emotions as weapons, anger is the most dangerous." she said  
"You don't seem like an angry person." Temari said  
"I'm not, but the demon in me is. It unleashes the anger in me, and then my bloodline limit takes over. It happened once in a village, out to the west. I told someone about it and they didn't take it too lightly. He told the village leader, they hunted me down, like a dog. When they had me cornered. My demon took over, she killed all of them. I ran into the forest, and I lived there ever since. Until Tsunade came of course." Katana said softly.  
"So this happened before, and you didn't tell us?" Pein asked suddenly breaking into the silence.  
"Tsunade, she...I can't say. I want to, I just can't." she hung her head.  
"I think it's time we see Tsunade." Pein said getting up. "Come on." he said to Katana.  
"What do you think you're doing?" Gaara asked  
"Taking Katana to see Tsunade." Pein said  
"Alone with you? I don't think so." Gaara said emotionlessly  
"What? You don't trust me?" Pein asked  
"No, I don't." Gaara glared at him. Temari and Kankuro glanced at their little brother, he was being unusually protective.  
"Fine your siblings can stay and protect Sai and you can come with me and Katana." Pein said. Gaara nodded. Katana and Gaara took hold of Pein's cloak and waited for the familiar darkness to surround them.

Sai watched them disappear and felt dread knot his stomach. Something bad was about to happen and he had just like his only living relative disappear with a murderer and an S-Class criminal. Temari put a hand on his shoulder.  
"Don't worry," she said "Gaara will take care of her."  
He smiled at her but the feeling of dread was still there.

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As they entered the office Tsunade looked up at them.  
"What may I ask are you doing here?" she raised an eyebrow.  
"What is the bloodline limit of the Blade clan?" Pein asked  
"Sai doesn't have a…."  
"I meant Katana's bloodline limit." Pein interrupted smoothly.  
Tsunade glared at the girl.  
"You little bitch. How did you break the seal?" she asked the girl coldly. The girl shrank away.  
"They deserved to know." She said quietly  
"Why?" Tsunade asked not changing her tone  
"I COULD'VE KILLED THEM!" Katana shrieked at the Hokage  
"THAT WAS THE POINT!" Tsunade yelled standing up.  
The room froze.  
"That was the point? You were going to kill the Akatsuki and blame it on her." Pein said angrily  
"Oh for god sake, stop acting like the good guy. You are an S-Class criminal, as if they are going to believe you." Tsunade smiled wryly.  
"What about the Sand Siblings and Sai then? Were they part of the death count?" Pein asked slamming his fist down on the table.  
"Mere casualties." Tsunade shrugged. Gaara felt rage grip him.  
"They have nothing to do with your sick conquest and you were going to let them die!" he yelled at the old woman. No-one was going to touch his brother and sister.  
"I can't see what you're blaming this on me for. Katana could have told you." She said. They spun to face Katana.  
"Don't you dare blame this on me Tsunade! You know damn well the seal you put on me stopped me from speaking about it! I tried to tell them, when I changed it broke the seal so that plan blew up in your face!" Katana screamed at her.  
Pein and Gaara stared at her. So that was why she hadn't told them. She couldn't, because of the seal.  
"You're a murderous old cow, who just took advantage of people that were trying to help." Katana continued. Tsunade laughed.  
"You're acting like they are the good guys." She pointed at Gaara and Pein. "They are murderers and criminals, and you are just a weapon. A thing that should not exist." Tsunade said frostily to the girl. Katana eyes filled with tears, all the memories flooding back.  
"So does the demon even exist? Or did you make that up too?" Pein asked enraged  
"Oh no, the demon exists, and it will probably kill Sai and Katana, I was relying on that." She smiled again, the dry powder on her face cracking. "Well I guess I'll just have to wait until the ANBU come to find you then." She said  
"Shit." Pein grabbed Gaara and Katana realizing what she meant. He shadow flickered just as the guards burst into the room.

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Sai felt the feeling of dread lift as he saw the three reappear. But something was wrong; he could see it on their faces. The Akatsuki and the Chunins ran up to them.  
"What happened?" Temari asked.  
"Tsunade, she…." Katana sunk to her knees, her head hung low. She looked up again. "I'm sorry." She said as she looked back to the ground.  
"I don't understand." Temari said kneeling down and gathering the girl into a hug.  
"It's Tsunade; she was going to use Katana as a weapon to kill us. All of us." Pein said his eyes dark with anger.  
"When she released that demon in her or whatever the hell happened, it broke the seal that prevented her from telling us. I think she feels guilty about the whole thing. She thinks it's her fault Tsunade did it." Pein continued.  
"Well it is her fault isn't it?" Hidan asked. Kankuro elbowed him in the ribs.  
"No it isn't. She didn't do anything wrong." Kankuro growled at him. Katana smiled at him gratefully.  
"So, what do we do now? What is the ANBU find us?" Sai asked  
"If they find us we'll deal with them. No-one knows where the Akatsuki hideout is, not even Tsunade, so we should be safe." Pein reasoned.  
"Well since that visit was a bit of a kick up the ass how about you tell us about that bloodline limit of yours?" Pein asked Katana smiling.  
Katana smiled back and got to her feet.  
"Okay, well the Blade bloodline limit only affects females, sorry Sai." She said. He smiled and shrugged.

"It affects different parts of the personality, the only way to tell what personality demon has taken over is by the colour of the eyes." She explained. "Unfortunately unlike most other bloodline limits, the Blade bloodline limit cannot be turned off. It's permanent." She looked at their faces for their reactions.  
"So, wait a minute, when you attacked me, was that a bloodline limit?" Hidan asked  
"Not quite." She smiled sheepishly "It was my demon and the bloodline limit. The demon activates the anger in me and that activates the bloodline limit doubling my strength and everything else." She waited for them to scream at her, to chase her away, to call her a freak, a demon child. But they didn't, instead they smiled.  
"Hey Pein?" Hidan asked his leader  
"You are not going to sacrifice her." Pein said warningly.  
"I wasn't going to fucking ask that!" Hidan yelled at him  
"Oh, so what were you going to ask then?" Pein asked  
"Can we replace Tobi with her instead?" Hidan asked smirking  
"But Tobi is a good boy." Tobi squeaked  
Pein rolled his eyes, realizing that this was going to turn into an argument. He turned to Katana.  
"You said the only way you could tell the difference in the personality demons was the colour of your eyes. What are the colours?" He asked hoping the question would distract Tobi and Hidan from another shit fight. Luckily enough it did.  
"Well, red is anger, I think Hidan knows that." She said softly "Blue is sadness, grey is fear, green is happy and there are a few others." She said shrugging  
"Green is happiness?" Temari asked  
"Well green actually means I'm in control of everything but that generally happens when I'm happy." She said smiling.

There was a moments silence.  
"Well, it's getting late; we should all get off to bed." Pein announced  
"What if the ANBU find us?" Kankuro asked  
"There are alarms and loads of high tech shit to stop them..." Pein shrugged. Kankuro looked at him quizzically.  
"What? You don't become an S-Class criminal with stealing a few things here or there." Pein said laughing. The group headed up to their rooms.

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Sai lay down on his bed. The door opened and Kankuro walked in.  
"Heya roomie." He smirked. Sai flopped back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.  
"Well don't welcome me or anything." Kankuro said jokingly  
"Sorry, it's not really my style." Sai shrugged  
"Yeah you're more gloom and doom, negativity and all that huh?" Kankuro laughed as he threw his bag in the corner and sat down on the edge of his bed.  
"What do you mean negativity?" Sai frowned  
"As in you always see the down side. Be happier man." Kankuro said as he lay down and put his hands behind his head.  
"It's easier to see the downside of things." Sai muttered.  
"Well what's the downside of all of this? For you?" Kankuro asked  
"Well, when I first came to Konoha, all I wanted to do was pass my ninja exams, now I don't think I'll ever be able to go back there, thanks to Tsunade." Sai said his brow furrowed.  
"Yeah, she's an old hag alright. So that's the downside huh? Well maybe you should think positive, you know? Get something good out of this?" Kankuro said pulling the covers up to his chin.  
"You know for an idiot you can be thoughtful sometimes." Sai took off his shoes and climbed into his bed.  
"See what I mean, that's the negative stuff. You've got to be nicer to people. Christ man, you're more insulting that Gaara and he has an excuse." Kankuro said as he turned off the light. Sai lay awake in the darkness, his head full of thoughts.


	4. The Demon's Heart

Katana awoke the next morning to find she was the first one up. She walked down stairs and outside onto the balcony, it was 5 am, around sunrise. She breathed deeply and felt herself relax. She had lived in a forest for 10 years so she felt at ease around nature. She sat on a bough of a tree hanging over the balcony and watched the sunrise.

Gaara sat in his bedroom. The sun had just come up. He thought he'd heard someone downstairs. He decided to take a look, he opened the door.

Katana's head shot up, she was in the kitchen looking for some birdseed for the small birds fluttering around the tree. She ignored and made her way out on to the balcony again with the birdseed.

Gaara stalked down the stairs and glanced around, it looked like someone was on the balcony. He could hear them singing. He glanced out the door and saw Katana sitting there. She was sitting on a tree branch singing to a bird that was eating from her hand. She looked like she had just woken up, her long black hair tumbling over her shoulders, her feet were bare. Gaara felt a strange feeling in his chest. Suddenly she turned and saw him.  
"Oh Gaara it's you. I thought I heard someone." She smiled and hopped down from the branch onto the deck of the balcony.  
"What are you doing?" Gaara asked  
"Feeding the birds." Katana said, she noticed his voice wasn't as cold as usual.  
"Why were you feeding birds?" he raised an eyebrow  
"Because they were hungry." She stated matter-of-factly "Do you want to feed them?"  
"I shouldn't..." he began.  
"Come on. They won't bite." She laughed and reached for his hand. Gaara waited for the familiar wall of sand to come up but it didn't, instead her hand encircled his wrist and she led him over to the birds.  
"Here." She piled some seed in his hand and held it out to the bird. The bird put its head to one side and then hopped on and began eating. It finished and flew away. Gaara stared at it in wonder.  
'Yeah it's like that the first time." Katana smiled. Gaara spun to face her.  
"How did you do that?" he asked  
"Well they're birds, all you have to do is put out seed." She shrugged.  
"Not that! How did you break through my sand shield?" he asked  
"Sand shield? I didn't see any sand shield." She said frowning  
"When people mean me harm a sand shield comes up, how come it didn't?" he asked  
"You just answered your own question." She said bluntly  
"What?"  
"You just said the sand shield comes up when people mean you harm, I didn't mean you harm so the sand shield didn't come up." She shrugged as if it was obvious. "Anyway, I'm going for a walk. You're welcome to join me." Katana said as she walked off leaving Gaara staring at his hand.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Gaara decided to go with her. He walked silently beside her. He still had the strange feeling in his chest.

'What could it be?' he thought to himself 'Could it be... happiness?'  
"Are you okay Gaara?" Katana asked. He shrugged.

"I'm serious Gaara are you feeling alright?" she pressed her hand to his forehead. As soon as her hand touched his skin his heart thudded.  
"Hmm you seem to be fine. Have you been getting enough sleep?" she asked.  
"I don't sleep, because of the demon inside me, its evil; if I sleep it can take over." He looked at the ground.  
"Oh." She looked shocked. He couldn't have blamed her. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his neck, the world swayed.  
"Gaara?" Katana looked worried. Darkness overcame him.

Katana saw him fall to the ground; saw the dart in his neck, an ambush.  
'You need me,' her demon said to her 'let me take over or we will all die.'  
'I can take them, whoever they are' Katana said to her demon, Hitomi.  
'You can't, the transformation the other day has weakened you, and if you fight we will die, now let me take over.' Hitomi insisted. Katana knew that.  
'Fine Hitomi, you can take over.' Katana relinquished control. As Hitomi felt the girl's soul retreat she felt the body surrender power, its senses heightened. Suddenly 5 ANBU members jumped out.

'This will be fun' Hitomi thought grinning.

One of the ANBU members moved forward, Hitomi swerved and slashed at him with her claws, he fell to the ground, dead, a hole gaping in his chest. She smiled as she heard the sharp intake of breath from the other members. She turned and leapt at one ripping out his throat with her teeth, she relished to metallic taste of blood. Leaping up she ripped out the nearest ANBU member's heart leaving the body to fall. Hitomi turned to the remaining two members, one took a swing at her, she held up her hand shattering his arm, he fell to the ground, screaming in pain, she raised her foot and smashed his skull against the hard earth. Blood went everywhere. She smirked at the last one.  
"Lucky last." She smirked. Shrieks were heard from the forest, then silence.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Katana awoke in a pool of red. She tasted a metallic cooper taste and realized it was blood, not hers either. She looked around at the chaos she had caused.  
"No." Then she saw Gaara, realizing she'd have to deal with reliving what had happened here later she began to drag Gaara back to the hideout hoping he would survive that long.

Pein walked down the stairs, it looked like he was the first one up. Something caught his eye out the window, as he looked closer he realized it was Katana and Gaara. Gaara was unconscious and Katana was smattered in blood.  
"Shit! KONAN! Get down here now!" he yelled as he ran out the door.

Katana saw Pein and Konan running towards her. She relaxed, Gaara was going to survive, and she put him gently on the ground. Konan began healing him. Pein grabbed her by the shoulders.  
"What happened?" he asked shaking her  
"It was the ANBU, 5 members, they're all dead, and they shot Gaara with a poison dart." She said. He let her go  
"Anything else?" he asked  
She shook her head and fell to the ground as the darkness came.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Katana? Katana are you awake?"  
Katana opened her eyes and saw Temari and Kankuro staring down at her.  
"Hey you're awake. Are you feeling okay?" Temari asked. Katana nodded.  
"Is Gaara ok?" she asked  
"I'll go check." Kankuro said walking out of the room.  
Temari looked at the girl shocked. Gaara had always been cold towards her and yet she had risked her life for him. "  
"Hey Katana, why did you save Gaara?" Temari asked  
"Is that a serious question?" she asked. Temari raised an eyebrow

"Well what the hell was I supposed to do, leave him there to die?" Katana sat up. Suddenly Kankuro popped his head around the door  
"Hey Katana, Gaara's fine and Pein wants to see you, he's downstairs."  
"Thanks Kankuro." Katana said getting out of bed.

'I wonder what he wants to see me about.' She thought to herself as she made her way down the stairs.

Katana walked into the living room to see the whole of the Akatsuki summoned there.  
"What's going on?" she asked  
"We need to talk to you, about that blood line limit and you're demon." Pein said quietly.  
"Okay." Katana said sitting down.  
"Good, now tell us everything."

Meanwhile Temari and Kankuro went to see Gaara. They walked in and Sai was there.  
"What are you doing here?" Temari asked  
"The others left and anyone should know you never leave a critically injured person alone." Sai shrugged like it obvious  
"Well thank you." Temari smiled. Sai smiled back, glad that he had taken Kankuro's advice and tried to be nice.  
"Hey is anyone else getting the feeling we're forgetting something?" Kankuro asked. They other two nodded.  
"Well I think I might leave him with you two, he seems ok, it's just like he's sleeping." Sai sad  
"Sleeping?" Temari questioned.  
"Oh shit!" Kankuro and Temari ran over to their brother.  
"Gaara, you've got to wake up, the demon Shukaku." Temari began. Gaara's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright.  
He stared at them.

Downstairs Katana had just finished telling the Akatsuki everything there was to know about the bloodline limit and the demon.  
"Anything else?" she asked raising an eyebrow  
"Yeah, just one thing." Pein said  
"Really, what?" she asked  
"We want you to join the Akatsuki." He said. Katana fell out of her chair.  
"I might have to think about it." She said getting back to her feet.  
"We understand, well the offer is still there." Pein said smiling.  
Suddenly a noise was heard from upstairs  
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I WAS ASLEEP?!"  
Katana rushed upstairs towards the noise.


	5. Awakenings, Arguments and Introductions

She walked in the door with the Akatsuki following. A sight met their eyes, Temari, Kankuro and Sai were staring at Gaara who looked, well, pissed off.  
"What the fuck happened?" he asked maliciously  
"You were ambushed by the ANBU, five of them. They knocked you out with a poison dart to the neck." Pein explained  
"ANBU? Where are they now?" Gaara asked  
"Dead, I killed them." Katana said suddenly  
"You? Why?" Gaara frowned angrily  
"Why? Because they fucking ambushed us that's why dumbshit! What was I supposed to do, let them kill us?" Katana screamed at him. Gaara looked at the Akatsuki.  
"I think you should leave." He said evenly. Nobody argued. They all left the room. Temari began to leave when she noticed Sai and Kankuro standing there.  
"I bet you 20 Gaara wins." Kankuro said  
"Dream on, my sister can kick you're brother's ass." Sai retorted  
"Men." Temari muttered rolling her eyes. She smacked both upside the head and dragged them out of the room. The door clicked shut behind her.  
"Wow, They really are afraid of us huh?" Katana laughed  
"No isn't the time to be laughing, you risked your life today for no reason." Gaara said narrowing his eyes  
"I didn't risk my life for no reason, what did you expect me to do? Leave you there to die?" she asked  
"Yes." Gaara replied  
"What?" she shook her head  
"I'm your protector, if I die then it's part of my job." Gaara said  
"God, someone would think you'd wanted to die!" Katana yelled  
"I never said that!" Gaara screamed at her  
"Well that's the way you're coming across!" Katana screamed back.  
"You are the most infuriating woman I have ever come across. You have no rationality! I have nothing but been mean to you and you go and risk your life! Why would you do that!?" he asked curtly  
"Because that's what I do! I've seen enough blood spilt." She spat  
"I can see that!" he pointed at her clothes that were blood stained  
"Aw shut up! Look I can't see why you're yelling at me! I saved your life. Most people would be thankful." She crossed her arms.  
"Is that what you want? Gratitude?" he asked mockingly  
"No, I want you to shut up about it!" she screamed. Gaara did not have a come back for that. Suddenly a noise was heard from outside.  
"If someone is listening out there I'm going to kill them." Gaara said walking over to the door. They listened again  
"Aw come on Tem, we just want to see who wins." They heard Kankuro whine from down the hall  
"NO!" Temari said. A thump was heard as she hit him across the head.  
"I agree with Kankuro, I don't want your brother laying a finger on my sister." Sai said  
"In what way do you mean that?" Temari asked  
"In any way!" They heard Sai yell.  
Katana laughed behind her hand.  
"I guess we weren't the only ones arguing huh?" she smiled wryly  
"I guess not. Look how about we just drop it." Gaara said, he didn't want to argue with her, he wanted to go back to having that happy feeling he'd gained over the time he was around her.  
"Yeah, okay. Can we watch them argue now; I heard Sai fights like a girl." Katana laughed as she walked out the door.

Outside Temari was arguing with Sai and Kankuro down the hall.  
"Aw come on Tem! Please?" Kankuro whined  
"Shut up!" Temari screamed at him  
"Make me." he teased. She punched him in the nose and he fell to the ground unconscious. Sai began walking away.  
"Where do you think you're going?" Temari asked yanking him back by his collar.  
"I'm going to protect my sister from that monster of a thing you call a brother!" he said pulling away. Temari grabbed him and pulled slamming him into the wall.  
"Look here you piece of shit, my brother is not a monster, in many ways he's a lot better than you." She whispered angrily. He struggled and freed himself but he didn't attack her.  
"It's different when you know them for a while then, huh? When you know you're family." He said sadly. Temari's face softened.  
"I forgot. I'm sorry Sai." Temari said softly  
"It's ok, it's just, I want to help her, to make sure she doesn't feel alone and you know brother stuff. But I don't know how to." He said looking at the ground.  
"Aww Sai, I didn't know you cared!"  
Sai and Temari spun around to see Gaara and Katana standing there grinning.  
"How long have you been there? And weren't you two supposed to be fighting?" Temari asked  
"It got boring." Gaara shrugged. Katana walked up to Sai.  
"You really are confused about the whole sibling thing aren't you?" she asked Sai. He nodded.  
"You're not alone you know." she smiled.  
"I'm not." Sai asked  
"What? Did you think I knew about family?" she asked  
"Well I thought you knew more than me." he shrugged  
"Sai, I grew up in a forest." She laughed.  
"WHAT?" they all looked at her.  
"I told you remember?" she giggled  
"No, you said that you hid in the forest till Tsunade found you. How old were you when they chased you away from the village?" Sai asked trying to find out more about his sister  
"I was 5." She said. The others stared at her wide-eyed.  
"You mean you lived in a forest for 10 years?" Temari asked  
"Well yeah." Katana shrugged. Temari squashed her into a hug.  
"You poor thing." She said hugging the girl.  
"It really wasn't that bad and Temari I can't breathe properly." Katana gasped with relief as Temari finally released her.  
"What do you mean the forest wasn't that bad?" Temari asked shocked  
"Well it's nice out there. Peaceful and calm..."  
"And DIRTY AND FILLED WITH CREEPY CRAWLY BUGS!" Temari screamed. Behind her Sai and Gaara grinned.  
Suddenly Kankuro woke up and wiped the blood from his nose.  
"What's going on? Why is everyone but Temari smiling? What did I miss?" he said looking around.  
"Never mind." Katana laughed helping him up.  
The group headed downstairs.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

They walked in the living room to see the whole Akatsuki sitting there.  
'Wow, I don't think I've seen all of you in one place." Temari said  
"You haven't? Oh shit yeah, I forgot to introduce you to them all." Pein smacked his forehead.  
"Tobi wants to do it! Please, please, please!!" Tobi begged  
"Well..." Pein thought  
"YAY!" Tobi said taking it as a yes. He walked up to a blonde haired member that was asleep. He had palms on his hands.  
"This is Sempai. Everyone calls him Deidara though." Tobi held Deidara's head up by his ponytail. "Say hello Sempai." he said. Deidara snored. Tobi let go of the ponytail causing Deidara's head to flop back. "I think he's sleeping." Tobi concluded.  
He ran over to Pein.  
"This is Pein." He said.  
"Tobi, they already know me." Pein explained patiently.  
"Oh." Tobi nodded furiously "Ok." He skipped over to a man who looked half plant.  
"This is Zetzu, he is part plant. He tried to eat Tobi once but Tobi doesn't mind." Tobi ran over to a man with red hair and a bleak stare.

"This is Sasori, he uses puppets. He is a puppet. Sasori can cook though so Tobi thinks he is a very nice puppet." Tobi sang. Sasori glared at him but Tobi seemed blissfully unaware as ran over to the rest of group. He pointed to Hidan.  
"That's Hidan, you know him." He giggled and ran up to another member.  
"This is Kakuzu, he likes money! A lot." Tobi said.

He skipped over to a girl with blue hair who was making an origami crane. "This is Konan. She's the medic; she folds paper to make pretty little things." Tobi said. Konan held up the crane.  
"It's a birdie!" Tobi sang happily. Konan held it out to Tobi.  
"Thank you!" he said as he danced around the room singing

"Tobi has a birdie! Tobi has a birdie." He stopped in front of a man who looked like a shark.  
"This is Kisame. He uses a BIG sword!" Tobi bounced up and down on his toes.

"10 says it's for compensation." Katana whispered to Temari, who smothered a laugh with her hand.  
He ran over to a member that looks disturbingly like Uchiha Sasuke.  
"This is Itachi. He scares the poopsie out of Tobi!" Tobi squealed.  
"And I'm Tobi!" he pointed to himself. " Tobi is a good boy." he said happily.  
Katana laughed and the others rolled their eyes.  
"Well now that you know them all, let's get some dinner! I'm starved!" Pein said. The others agreed and began to argue about what to eat.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

After a half hour of arguing they decided to order take out. Pizza. They sat down to watch a movie while they waited for the pizza, it was Alien. Katana sat down between Gaara and Sai. Kankuro walked in last and plopped down on the couch next to Sai. Across the room Temari, Konan and Tobi were smiling and it wasn't at the movie.  
"They look so cute together!" Temari said grinning  
"I know! Are you sure nothing has happened between them?" Konan asked. Temari shook her head.  
"Tobi thinks pretty girl and sand man look cutely together!" Tobi sang. Konan quickly silenced him by putting her hand over his mouth.  
"Do you want them to hear you?" she whispered furiously. Tobi nodded. Konan and Temari rolled her eyes.  
"Hey Konan?" Temari asked  
"What it is it?" Konan turned to her friend  
"How about we play matchmaker?"

Gaara glanced as his grinning sister.  
"Shit." he muttered.  
"What's wrong?" Katana turned to him  
"My sister. She's up to something." he said frowning.  
"Up to something? Like what?" she asked  
"I don't know, but if Tem is smiling then it's probably bad." he said  
"Do most sisters play jokes on their brothers?" she asked  
"Only the bad ones." he said. He saw her face fall and realised she still didn't know how to act around her brother.  
"You know most siblings act like themselves around each other. That's part of what being a sibling is about." Gaara said smiling. (Gaara you are wrong, so very very wrong)  
"Really?" she asked looking relieved. He nodded and was glad to see her face relax.  
"Thanks Gaara." she said giving his hand a squeeze. Gaara felt his heartbeat quicken. They turned back to the movie.


	6. Pale Eyed Prisoner

After the movie was finished most of the group was asleep. In fact everyone was asleep apart from Gaara and Katana. (How unpredicted)

"All of them are asleep?" Gaara asked in disbelief  
"Looks it." Katana said poking Kisame. She looked over at Sai and Temari and giggled. Sai had his arm slung around Temari shoulders and Temari was holding on to him.  
"I'm never going to let them live that down." Gaara smirked. Katana straightened up and stretched.  
"Are you tired?" Gaara asked. She shook her head.  
"Want to go for a walk then?" he asked. She nodded.  
Katana and Gaara walked through a moonlit glade. Katana laughed and danced around in circles.  
"Why did you spin around like that?" Gaara asked raising an eyebrow (he has eyebrows in my story!)  
"Because it's fun! Here you try it." she grabbed his hands and swung him around in a circle laughing, they spun until Gaara lost his footing and they both fell to the ground. Katana say up on her elbow.  
"Fun huh?" she asked. Gaara nodded feeling warmth spread through his heart and a smile spread across his face. Suddenly Katana shot up, looking around.  
'What's wrong?" Gaara asked disappointed the easy feeling had gone.  
'Someone's coming, quick we've got to hide." she dragged Gaara into some nearby bushes. They crouched there, motionless and inches away from each other.  
A group of guards appeared, bringing with them a girl in chains. Tears were streaming from her lilac eyes and down her pale face. Gaara felt a flicker of recognition. She was the Hyuuga girl from the Chunin exams. What was her name again?  
"That's Hinata Hyuuga." He whispered  
"You know her?" Katana asked. Gaara shrugged in response.  
"Well in that case, we've got to save her." Katana said, her mouth set in determination.

Gaara knew he shouldn't have agreed but as Katana pulled him silently along behind her. He should have said something but he couldn't deny her, so he went.

Gaara and Katana followed the group until they stopped at the entrance to a huge mansion. Although the mansion was lavish in size, it was neglected. It was clear that Hinata Hyuuga was not exactly a welcomed member of the family. It looked like she had been sent here in banishment. Gaara and Katana waited silently in the shadows while the guards led the Hyuuga into the house. They threw the girl into the attic and went downstairs, assuming the girl would be too petrified to escape. Unfortunately they were right, but what they didn't know was a certain Sand Shinobi and a female ninja had decided to help them. While the guards were getting drunk downstairs assured of their now easy job, two ninja's landed on the roof and quietly tapped on the window.

Hinata lifted her tearstained face from her hands, her knees pulled up to her chin. She thought she's heard something. She heard it again; she hoped it wasn't one of the guards they could get a bit snatchy when they were drunk. There it was again, she realised it was coming from the window. She got up and nervously shuffled her way over to the window. She looked down and saw two Shinobi there. She recognised the male from the Chunin exams and shivered. Gaara of the Sand, she remembered him alright. She opened the window and was surprised to find it unlocked. Was she really considered that weak? She discarded that thought and looked at the two Shinobi.  
"What? -" She began but was stopped when the female leant over and put her hand over her mouth.  
"Do you want to get out of here?" she asked. Hinata nodded.  
"Then come with us."

Three ninja snuck out of the manor, completely unsuspected to the guards. They jumped over the fence and disappeared into the darkness. The trio stopped not far from the Akatsuki's hideout. Gaara turned to the trembling Hyuuga girl.  
"Look, you have a choice here, we stay at the Akatsuki hideout, if you come with us, and you'll never be able to return to Konoha." Gaara said watching for a reaction.  
"I can't go back to Konoha anyway, my father banished me. I'll come with you." Hinata said, her eyes blank. She felt empty inside, saying it herself made it seem so much more real. They walked into the hideout.

Just before they walked in they stopped. Hinata turned to Katana and Gaara.  
"Ummm, w-who are you?" Hinata asked Katana.  
"Hmmm? Oh shit, yea you don't know who I am. I'm Katana Blade. Sai's sister." Hinata's eyebrows raised at the last comment. Katana laughed.  
"I don't seem like his sister?" Katana asked.  
"Umm, you s-seem a lot n-nicer that Sai." Hinata said without thinking. She put her hands over her mouth as soon as she realised what she has just said,  
'Gomenasai, I didn't mean, ah I'm sorry." She blushed, unable to believe she's made a fool out of herself already. All her training gone to waste. Gaara turned and walked into the house. Hinata shuffled her feet. Katana patted her shoulder.  
"He's just grumpy." Katana said reassuringly.  
"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't know I made him grumpy." Hinata said quickly  
"What? Oh no he's just got a general grumpiness thing going, but he's ok! He just needs to learn to loosen up a bit." Katana said good-naturedly. "Well I think we'd better head inside." She led the shy girl into the hideout.

"Who is that?" Pein asked pointing to the pale girl that Katana had just lead in.  
"My name is Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata said bowing slightly.  
"Holy shit! We've got someone with manners?" Sasori said sarcastically. Suddenly Hinata was tackled to the ground.  
"Hello Hina-chan! My name is Tobi; I'm a good boy! Tobi will make sure Hina-chan is happy! Hello again." Tobi sang as he hugged Hinata. Katana laughed at the look on Hinata's face. It looked like being tackled and called Hina-chan was the last thing she was expecting from an S-class criminal.  
"Ano, hello Tobi-san." Hinata squeaked.  
"Aww how cute she squeaked!" Tobi said hugging Hinata again.  
"Tobi, get off the poor girl." Konan said helping Hinata up.  
"Look, you get on upstairs and get some sleep; we'll deal with this tomorrow." Konan said smiling warmly.  
"What!?" Pein asked angrily. Konan waved off the question and pushed Hinata towards the stairs. Katana decided that if she didn't help Pein would most probably kill the young Hyuuga so she dragged her off towards her room calling a goodnight over her shoulder.  
"Oh and by the way, Hinata hasn't got anywhere else to go so she'll be staying with us." Katana called before closing the door.  
"Y-you really didn't n-need to d-do that." Hinata stuttered  
"Well too bad, I already did. Now the bathroom's there, you can borrow some of my clothes." Katana said as walked out of the room and closed the door with a click. She took a step back and stumbled right into Gaara.  
"Oh sorry Gaara, I didn't see you." She apologized.  
"It's ok." Gaara shrugged.  
"Is Pein pissed?" Katana asked. Gaara shook his head.  
"No, Konan managed to reason with him and Tobi said he'd annoy the shit out of him if he kicked her out." Gaara said feeling his heart thud as she laughed.  
"Where's Hinata?" Gaara asked.  
"She's getting cleaned up." Katana said smiling. They stood there in silence for a moment. Hinata's head popped out from behind the door.  
"I'm done." She blushed seeing that someone else was there. She quickly ducked back into the room.  
"Do you know why she was in that old mansion?" Gaara asked.  
"No, I'll ask her though. Well goodnight Gaara." She said  
"Goodnight." Gaara said turning away. He stopped as he felt a hand on his arm.  
"Gaara?" Katana said. He turned to her.  
"Yeah?" Gaara asked. Katana smiled shyly. She leant forward and kissed him lightly on the check.  
"Thank-you." She said before walking into her room. Gaara stood there dumbfounded. His hand reached up and touched his cheek. He smiled and went to his room.


	7. Birds, Breakfast And A Tobi

Katana walked into the room and sat down on the edge of one of the beds. She looked at the young Hyuuga girl.  
"Hey Hinata?" she said.  
"Yes?"  
"Why were you in that mansion?" she asked. Hinata poked her index fingers together shyly.  
"Umm, my f-father sent me th-there." She said softly.  
"Your father? Why would he do that?" Katana asked, wondering if this was how normal families functioned.  
"He banished me, f-from Konoha. He s-said that he w-was sick of my f-failures. He told e-everyone that I w-was sick. It'll b-be months b-before anyone even r-realises I'm gone." Hinata stuttered. Katana gave the small girl a hug. She knew what it was like to be banished. To be hated by people you once trusted.  
"Well. If it's any consolation, I'm sure that your friends will figure out that you are lost in no time." Katana said reassuringly. She got up and walked over to her bed.  
"Now try and get some rest. God knows you'll need it the way this house carries on." Katana said before flicking off the light.

Gaara awoke early the next morning. He lay there for a moment, listening for anyone else awake. He grinned as he heard a chink of a glass, only one person got up this early and it was Katana. He got up and headed towards the kitchen.

He walked in and smiled, it was her alright. He walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and spun to face him.  
"Oh Gaara. It's you." She smiled. Gaara smiled in return.  
"Morning Katana." He said smiling. Katana looked at him strangely.  
"You feeling ok? You're smiling?" she said  
"I can smile if I want." Gaara said. Katana laughed, he reminded her of a child at times.  
"Sounds like a good reason to smile." Katana laughed. "So, you want something to eat? I was about to fix breakfast myself." Her eyes shone brightly.  
"Sure, breakfast sounds good." Gaara said smiling as he began to help the girl fix something to eat.

Kankuro woke up with a sharp pain in his head. He'd fallen out of bed and it had woken him up.  
"Fucking gravity." He muttered getting up off the floor. His stomach growled, now he had an internal dilemma. Sleep or food, the eternal battle. His stomach growled again.  
"Fine you win." He growled, setting off towards the kitchen. He stopped at the doorway when he saw Gaara and Katana, they were eating breakfast, and Gaara was SMILING!  
"I guess she's having an effect on him." Kankuro said to himself and then grinned because he knew something that his nosy sister didn't. He walked into the kitchen.  
"Morning lovebirds." He said casually, a mischievous glint in his eye. Gaara glared at him and Katana just rolled her eyes, laughing.  
"Good morning Kankuro." Katana giggled.  
"So when are you to gonna seal the deal?" Kankuro asked smirking.  
"What deal?" Katana asked. Gaara smirked. He knew his brother wouldn't ask if they had done anything, it was pointless to ask anyway, they were just friends. Weren't they?  
"Aww come on, you can tell me." Kankuro said winking at Katana. Gaara resisted the urge to suddenly mutilate his brother with a spoon.  
"Tell you what? I don't understand Kankuro?" Katana said. She knew what he was up to, but two could play at that game.  
"Arggh! I give up with you woman." Kankuro said throwing his hands up in the air. Katana smiled, glad that she had annoyed the puppet master. She smiled at Gaara and went outside to feed the birds. Kankuro glanced from Katana to Gaara and decided he needed to try a more direct approach.  
"So what's the deal with you two?" he asked his brother.  
"I don't know what you mean." Gaara said.  
"Gaara I know something's up! You were SMILING! And it wasn't a murderous smile Gaara it was a happy smile! You never HAPPY SMILE!" Kankuro waved his arms around frantically.  
"She makes me feel happy." Gaara shrugged. Kankuro panicked.  
"Shit! You haven't fallen in love with her have you?" Kankuro asked grabbing his brother by the shoulders. "We No Sabaku have bad luck in love. Just look at what happened with Temari and all of her boyfriends, or me and…. You know what? Let's just focus on Temari's fuck ups." Kankuro said seriously. Gaara struggled out of his brother's grip.  
"I don't think I'm in love." Gaara said. "I like her though." He thought about it. He couldn't be in love with Katana. Could he?  
"That is how it starts; trust me it's all down hill from there." Kankuro said grimacing; he remembered what had happened with him and Ten Ten. He looked at his brother and hoped he wouldn't have to go through the same thing; it was hard enough for him as it is.  
"Well look, I'll let you do your own thing but can you just promise me a few things?" Kankuro asked, serious for once. Gaara noticed this change in his brother's demeanour and nodded in reply to his question.  
"Okay, first of all, don't kill her, 'cause chicks don't like that. And if they are really stubborn they will haunt you. Second don't tell Temari, because, well you know why. And lastly Gaara, try not to screw it up. As strange as it sounds, you might be the only No Sabaku not to fuck up their love life. Okay?" Kankuro watched his brothers' face for a reaction.  
"Well, I don't plan on killing her; I can assure you that Temari will not know anything, although so far nothing has happened." Gaara said.  
"Nothing huh? Nothing at all?" Kankuro stared at his brother. Gaara squirmed under his gaze. Damn emotions!  
"Well, she did kiss me last night." Gaara said. Kankuro fell out of his chair.  
"Are you serious?" Kankuro asked. Gaara nodded.  
"I thought you said nothing happened!" Kankuro said.  
"It was just as friends." Gaara said, he was already feeling uncomfortable about this whole conversation.  
"Just as friends, my ass! She digs you! Gaara you have got to make sure that Temari doesn't find out." Kankuro said, unable to believe that Gaara had scored himself a hot chick, a tough hot chick at that.  
"Ok, I'll make sure Temari doesn't find out." Gaara said.  
"Good, because she'll just screw it up, and you have a pretty good chance with Katana." The puppeteer said.  
"You really think I have a chance?" Gaara asked.  
"You got more of a chance than anyone else." Kankuro shrugged.  
"Thanks Kankuro." Gaara said before walking out of the room  
Kankuro sat there feeling proud of himself.

' I helped my little brother out,' he grinned.' Wait a minute, did he just say thank you?'

Gaara walked outside to where Katana was feeding the birds.  
"Heya Gaara." Katana said without turning around.  
'Hi Katana." Gaara said, he leant against the railing watching Katana feed the birds.  
"What did Kankuro say?" Katana asked. Gaara thought for a moment.  
"Ummm, he said he didn't want me to kill you." Gaara said. Katana laughed. "Gaara I know you wouldn't kill me." She said giving him a hug. Gaara froze. 'Again with the hugging. What is it with people?!' he thought.  
Suddenly a large thump was heard. They jumped apart and turned to see that Tobi had ran into the glass door.  
"Oww Tobi hit his head." Was muffled through the glass. Katana giggled. Tobi opened the door and ran out, tackling Katana in a hug.  
"Good morning pretty-chan." He sang hugging her tightly. Katana blushed. Tobi then went to tackle Gaara but remembered the numerous threats made if he ever hugged Gaara.  
"Ah Tobi remembered." He bowed. "Good morning Gaara-sama." He said. Katana burst out laughing while Gaara stood there shocked.  
"You know Tobi; I think I would've preferred you hugging me." Gaara said.  
"YAY!" Tobi tackled Gaara in a hug instantly.  
"Morning Sand-sama!" Tobi said.  
"Ahh! GET OFF ME!" Gaara began struggling while Katana sat there helplessly laughing. Hinata shyly waled outside. Tobi tackled her as well. "Good morning Shy-chan." He said brightly. Hinata promptly blushed.  
"G-good morning T-Tobi-san." Hinata said.  
"Morning Hinata." Katana said helping the Hyuuga up.  
"Good morning Katana-chan." Hinata said. She turned to Gaara and bowed. "Good morning Gaara-sama." She said softly.  
"You don't need to bow to me Hinata." Gaara said softly. He shocked not only himself but Hinata and Tobi who stood there, jaws gaping while Katana just smiled.  
"See he's not all bad!" she smiled at the other two. They all jumped as Konan's voice sounded from the kitchen.  
"Breakfast."


	8. Training, Make Overs & A Flower for Hina

The whole group sat down at the table to eat. Immediately chaos broke loose. Tobi was playing with his spoon, flicking food all over Kisame and Zetzu. Who were now proceeding to kill him.  
"Ahh someone save Tobi!" Tobi screamed as he ran away from the two.  
'Tobi shut up!" Deiedara screamed before returning to bicker with Sasori and Sai about art. Leader walked in, rolled his eyes and walked back out.  
"It's not worth dealing with this shit." He muttered as he walked away. Hinata sat there shocked.  
"I-is it l-like this all the t-time?" Hinata asked staring wide eyed at the chaos surrounding them.  
"Hmmm, yeah basically." Katana shrugged. Temari leant over.  
"So, Hinata. You hooked up with Naruto yet?" she asked. Hinata tapped her index fingers together.  
"Umm, we did for a while." Hinata said.  
"A while? What happened?" Temari asked.  
"Umm, it…. It didn't w-work out." Hinata said looking at her fingers. Temari gave the small girl a hug.  
"Who is Naruto?" Katana asked. She glanced at Hinata's fallen face. "Tell you what Tem, tell me later. For now let's just eat breakfast." Katana said. Temari nodded. After they finished breakfast the Akatsuki, excluding Konan, Sai and the Sand Brothers went to rain, leaving Konan, Temari, Hinata and Katana in the house.  
"So, who's Naruto?" Katana whispered to Temari.  
"Hinata had a crush on him for years, I always kind of hoped they'd end up together but I guess it wasn't meant to be." Temari's eyes saddened for the shy girl. She'd already been through enough without that blockhead Naruto making things worse.  
"Aww poor Hinata." Katana said. No wonder the girl had next to no confidence.  
'Hey Hinata, how about we make you feel better?" Temari said happily  
"How?" Hinata asked enquiringly.  
'We all get make overs!" Temari said. She suddenly felt a gust of wind, she turned to see the window was open.  
"Hey where's Katana?"

Katana landed on the tree branch and looked back at the house. She hated make up, and makeovers, and dresses. Probably because she'd lived in the forest for so long. She ran her fingers through her tangled hair; she was far from being prissy. She laughed at the thought of her being like some doll. She decided she might check out the nearby forest, at least it was something to do.

Gaara threw another punch at his brother who was now infuriating him.  
"Why don't you just ask her out?" Kankuro asked quietly enough so only Gaara could hear.  
"Kankuro if you don't drop this I will horribly mutilate you with the closest object available." Gaara growled kicking his brother in the stomach. Kankuro regained his balance.  
"Would you really do that?" Kankuro asked.  
"Kankuro, I have killed many people for even less than what you're doing, on top of that I am fucking insane. Of course I would mutilate you." Gaara said rolling his eyes; his brother really was dense sometimes.  
"Gaara, that was cruel." Pein commented. Gaara looked at him.  
"Probably because I am." Gaara said coldly. Leader just stared at him.  
"Leader-sama, did you just get shut down?" Tobi asked.  
"Tobi you don't annoy me often but you just did a fucking good job of it." Pein growled.  
"Pein, that was cruel." Gaara said sarcastically. Pein glared at him and returned to training. Gaara smirked and went back to tormenting his brother; it was nice to let off some emotional steam.

Meanwhile back at the hideout the girls were relaxing.  
"Wonder why Katana ran off?" Konan wondered aloud.  
"Yeah, God knows that she'd need one, what with growing up in a forest." Temari said.  
"Growing u-up in a forest? I d-don't understand." Hinata frowned.  
"Katana grew up in a forest." Temari said.  
"Oh that would explain why she's more at ease outside. So Sai grew up in a forest too?" Hinata asked.  
"Uhh, no." Konan sighed.  
"I don't understand." Hinata said raising an eyebrow.  
"Sai only met Katana a week and a half ago." Temari explained.  
"Oh. Wow, no wonder they seem so different." Hinata mused to herself.

Katana landed on the soft ground, crouched like a cat. She sat down and crossed her legs, allowing herself to relax.  
"Pff who needs a makeover when I've got this." She said to herself.  
She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. The wind whispering through the trees, the soft songs of birds, the sound of trees chanting their secrets to the air, the trickle of the stream, laughing to the sky. It was pure tranquillity. Katana lay back and breathed deeply.  
"Ninja's got nothing on me." She sighed.

The group started to head back from training. Kankuro was battered thanks to his few choice comments about Gaara, Katana and a bed which resulted in the whole of the Akatsuki having to hold Gaara back from killing him. All in all a usual day. They set off back to the base.

Temari washed the facemask off and sat back down relaxing.  
"Ahh, I needed that." She said. Her skin was often dry thanks to the desert so every once in a while she had to pamper herself. Konan flopped down beside her and began folding an origami flower. Hinata sat down beside them.  
"So Hinata, what do you like to do?" Temari asked.  
"Ano, I like to write stories, or draw." Hinata said quietly tapping her fingers together.  
"Drawing! Don't mention that to Deidara, Sai or Sasori or they will just argue with you." Konan said not even looking up from her origami.  
"Yes that's what Katana said. She draws to; I guess it must be a family trait." Hinata pondered aloud.  
"We're back." They heard someone call from the front door.  
"That's nice. Can you do us a favour and leave again?" Konan laughed.  
"Ha ha! Very funny Konan." Pein said sarcastically. Konan poked her tongue out at him and continued with her origami.  
"Hello flower-chan." Tobi said bouncing in.  
"Hello Tobi." Konan said warmly.  
"What are you making?" Tobi asked dancing around in anticipation.  
"I'm making a flower Tobi." Konan explained patiently. She was one of the only ones that could put up with Tobi's childish ways.  
"Ooh! A flower! Hey Flower-chan?" Tobi asked  
"Yes?"  
"Could Tobi have that flower so he could give it to someone?" Tobi asked in a small voice  
"Of course you can Tobi." Konan smiled and went back to folding the paper into an intricate shape. Tobi sat there bouncing in his toes in excitement.  
The rest of the guys walked in, sat down and flicked on the TV to some horror film. Temari rolled her eyes and walked into her room. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Gaara standing there.  
"Where's Katana?" he asked.  
"Why do you like her?" Temari teased. Gaara raised an eyebrow, but on the inside he was having a fit.  
'Make sure Tem doesn't find out' Kankuro's words rang in his heads.  
"No, I was just wondering why she's the only one missing, that's all." Gaara said.  
Temari shrugged, it wasn't her problem.  
"I don't know, we mentioned the words make over and she was gone." Temari said.  
'Can't say I'd blame her.' Gaara thought to himself as he went to find Katana.

Meanwhile Konan had finished the origami flower she was working on.  
"Here you go Tobi." She said handing him the flower. "Who are you going to give it to?" Konan asked.  
"Shy-chan!" Tobi said. Konan scratched her head. Who the hell was shy-chan? Tobi ran over to Hinata and held up the flower.  
'It's for you Shy-chan! See, now you don't have to feel sad no more!" Tobi said. In truth Tobi thought Hinata was upset because she had to stay with the Akatsuki. Hinata however thought he meant about Naruto. Either way it ended well for her cause it really did the trick.  
"Thank you Tobi-kun. That was very nice of you." She said smiling. Tobi squeaked and hugged her again, this time however Hinata was not thrown violently to the floor. Hinata smiled and patted him on the head.  
"Yay! Shy-chan liked the flower." Tobi sang dancing around.  
"Tobi! Stop being annoying, un." Deidara said waving Tobi out of the way. Tobi stood defiantly in the way of the TV screen. Deidara threw the remote at him. It bounced off his head.  
"Owwie! Sempai why did you hit Tobi?" Tobi snivelled. Deidara rolled his eyes, Tobi always made him feel like he had taken candy from a kid.  
"I'm sorry Tobi." He said grudgingly. Tobi brightened up and hugged Deidara.  
"Thank you Sempai! Tobi forgives you." Tobi said loudly before releasing a rather dishevelled and annoyed Deidara.  
'Come on Shy-chan, Tobi will you show you around the house since you're new." He said dragging Hinata off by the hand.

Katana opened her eyes. She'd heard something; she got up and clambered up a tree. If someone was going to try to ambush her, she wanted an advantage. She ducked into the shadow of the branches. 3 ANBU appeared, searching for the hideout.  
"Where is this thing?" one of them muttered  
"I don't know but we'd better find it soon. Tsunade killed the last few that failed." An ANBU in a bear mask said.  
'Killed the last two?' Katana thought to herself 'Wow; she must really want to kill us. I've got to tell the others.'

Katana silently sprang off the branch in the direction of the Akatsuki hideout.  
"What the hell was that?" one ANBU member looked up at the branch where Katana had been only seconds earlier.  
"Just ignore it. It was probably and animal, now let's find that hideout."


	9. HELP!

Okay, it seems that I am now having a bit of trouble with this little story. For those few that have bothered to read this far, go to the kitchen and get yourself a cookie. You deserve it!

Now I am having trouble wit the following things and I'd appreciate it, if some soul out there would help me out.

1) Where this story is heading. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to swing this little adventure, so any suggestions on the plot are welcome.

2) The thing we all need help with really: Pairings So far there is only Gaara and Katana as a set pairing. So if you could tell me who you want Hina, Kankuro and Temari paired up with and I will work it into the story as best I can. I really need help with this. No pairing is too cheesy, please tell all.

And with that I say farewell, until I hear back from someone, I'm afraid there is no more story as I am flat out of idea. So hope I hear from someone.


End file.
